HIS LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH 109 
acted as his substitute again for the whole of that 
session. Accompanied by his eldest daughter, he 
went to Torquay for his health in the autumn of 
1851, and while he was there his wife died 
suddenly in Aberdeen in February 1852. 
On 8th March following, when still at Torquay, 
he published the fourth volume of his History of 
British Birds —just fourteen years after the issue 
of the third; and in the preface to it he makes the 
following touching reference to his position at 
Torquay at the time :— 
“ As the wounded bird seeks some quiet retreat 
where, freed from the persecution of the pitiless 
lowler, it may pass the time of its anguish in 
forgetfulness of the world, so have I, assailed by 
disease, betaken myself to a sheltered nook where, 
unannoyed by the piercing blasts of the North Sea, 
I had been led to hope that my life might be 
protected beyond the most dangerous season of the 
year. It is thus that I issue from Devonshire the 
present . volume, which, however, contains no 
observations of mine made there, the scenes of my 
labours being in distant parts of the country.” 
The fifth and concluding volume was published 
on 31st July of the same year, after his return to 
Aberdeen, and on 8th September following, 1852, 
he died in his residence in Crown Street of that 
city. He was buried in the new Calton Cemetery, 
Edinburgh, where his wife and two children had 
previously been interred. 
The “ Conclusion ” at the end of that volume is 
calmly but deeply pathetic. In it the writer says :— 
